FIU’s impression? Johnson a ‘very large human being’

COLLEGE STATION — Florida International has had some pretty good road trips the past few years, and Golden Panthers safety Ashlyn Parker apparently has gotten an earful about the latest.

Asked by a reporter what he expects the atmosphere to be like on Saturday night at Kyle Field against Texas A&M, Parker said, “Crazy. I played at Penn State, Alabama and Kansas, and it’s supposed to be a lot worse than any of those three.”

Last Thanksgiving night, the best atmosphere at Kyle in a long while, must have left a lasting impression on a lot of folks.

FIU coach Mario Cristobal, whose team lost 19-14 at home to Rutgers last Saturday, met with the media on Wednesday, and here are a few excerpts from his press conference leading up to the schools’ first meeting in football:

On Jerrod Johnson:

“He does it all well, he really does. Whenever the ball is in his hands, there’s danger because he can throw it. He can run it. He makes stuff out of broken plays. He can scramble. He’s comfortable in the pocket. He can run the read stuff, he can run the quarterback run stuff and at the same time, he’s a very big individual. He’s a very large human being at about 250 pounds. He’s a triple-threat guy. He’s very well coached. He goes through his progression in an extremely efficient manner. He’s an all-around complete player.”

On Jeff Fuller:

“He’s a big man. It’s clearly defined what type of player he is. He is a dominant football player, big, physical, fast, can make you miss. He’s a complete wide receiver and certainly we’re aware of him.”

On Kyle Field noise:

“You practice for it. What you don’t want to do is let it surprise you. You don’t want to practice something throughout the course of the week that cannot be communicated on Saturday. So we’re prepared for it. Certainly practicing with noise level (Wednesday and Thursday); making our players aware of the heightened level of awareness of communication and how it comes into play in a game like this where the environment is tough.”

On replicating hostile crowd noise:

“In terms of looking up into the stands, that has to be out of the picture. I think every day in practice, that’s always the focal point – all attention is on the field. After every single play, eyes have to go to their assigned places. In terms of the noise itself, between the speakers that we set up outside to overemphasize the fact that verbally in practice, you’re used to hearing a coach bark out a signal at you, bark out a play. That’s not the case anymore. You’re going to have to be able to communicate with the system that we have installed that doesn’t involve verbal communication sometimes. Sometimes it does, but overall, I think we have a good plan for it. We’re very aware of it. We’re going into it with a good plan.”

On the need for physical line play:

“It’s very important. Texas A&M, the state of Texas, they pride themselves on being a very physical football state and certainly on both side of the ball. If you look at the NFL draft for years, it is littered with offensive and defensive linemen from the state of Texas. Certainly, in a game like this, the tone is going to be set up front.”